JDHS rolls into semis

The Juneau-Douglas girls’ soccer team continued its stellar play of late in its return to the state tournament.

No. 7 Colony was no match for the No. 2-seeded Crimson Bears as JDHS rolled to a 3-0 win on Thursday morning in Anchorage.

Bears coach Matt Dusenberry said his team played well despite being a little nervous for the biggest tournament of the season.

“I think there was a little hesitation, maybe some nerves with it being the first game of the tournament. Not only for us, but we were the earliest game of the whole tournament,” he said. “But we kept it at zero, got three (goals) and certainly created a lot of other chances besides the three we had.”

If Juneau-Douglas was nervous, it sure got over it quickly. JDHS got a goal from Rebekka Ord on a one-on-one situation in the first four minutes of the game to open the scoring, and two more goals from Melissa Skan and Aubrey Briscoe capped the Bears’ offensive output at 3-0 before the halftime whistle even blew.

On a hot day in Anchorage, Dusenberry said it was nice to be able to rotate his players and keep them rested.

“We were able to get quite a few people in and enjoy the match,” he said. “I think the girls were excited to have the opportunity to continue to advance.”

The second goal of the game came on a set piece about 10 yards to the left of the penalty box at what Dusenberry called an awkward angle to the goal. Senior forward Sarah Tarver lined the ball up with her right foot, crossed it into the box and Skan jumped up and headed it in just under the crossbar for the goal.

The team’s third score came on an own goal when Briscoe’s shot deflected off a Colony defender and into the net.

“We came out attacking right away, even though some of our touches throughout the game were a little bit suspect,” Dusenberry said. “We pretty much put pressure on them the entire match.”

The Bears can celebrate their first-round win, but not for long. Next up is South Anchorage, a team JDHS is 0-1-1 against this seaon.

“I think we’re excited to see — now that we’re playing a little bit better and smarter — what we can do against (South),” Dusenberry said. “We’ll see if we can get into the finals.”

Juneau-Douglas squares off against South today at 3 p.m. at Dimond High School in the semifinals of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska 2011 State Soccer Championships.